Maroon VR6 Restoration

[hamza]

Hey guys, so after i sold my mk2, i vowed i would stick to RWD cars, had a mx5 for a year and realised i need something more practical, this is what i got...






Its a 1994 manual 5 door vr6 with 160k on the clock. It has had all the mechanicals looked after but the bodywork has suffered.

When i saw it for sale on the forum and initially wanted to convince my bro to buy it, how i ended up buying it i still dont know..

The plan was to fly over to Melbourne, pickup the car and drive it back to SA. After organising a permit and buying ticket ect. the seller kindly met me at the airport early on a sunday morning to have a look at the car. Dave is his name if i remember correctly. I inspected and test drove the car and everything was A ok, bought it and didn't get 20min from his house before the drivers side inner cv exploded and left me by the road side. So its 9am on a sunday and i am in Melbourne with a car i can not drive (also we planned a day of site seeing and visiting various restaurants ect). I gave Dave a call to let him know what happened and cant thank him and his friend enough. We spent the rest of the Sunday trying to repair the car with a spare driveshaft we managed to get from another bloke (thanks to you too) but the outer cv would not pop out of the housing.
It was getting dark by now and i had to surrender, we towed the vr back to the same parking spot i picked it up thins morning which i found ironic, and booked a hotel in the city and flight back in the morning as i had UNI to get to.

Chapter 2 begins with not being able to find a reasonable quote for someone to transport the car back to SA for me, so after exhausting all our options i decided to hire a trailer and drive over with dad and his car to pic up the vr and drive it back. All went well and we managed to get back completing a round trip in just under 24hrs.

So the plan is to restore the car back to its former glory as its in a bit of a sorry state.

Body
I have already sourced a replacement tailgate that is straight and doesn't have the rust in the corners of the window. Will also be ironing out the dent int the front guard before giving the car a full respray.

Running gear
Plan is to source a complete set of new inner and outer cv's for piece of mind and as the car comes with a set of adjustable Bilstein's, i will be getting a set of lowered springs to just drop it a touch as well as spacers or new wheels with better fitment. Will need a replacement exhaust or an upgrade.

Interior
The Leather seats are in generally good condition other then the drivers seat where the bolster has seen some ware. Also will need to replace the clamshell, drivers door card and find a replacement steering wheel.

Hamza

[stefcio007]

what a story, looking forward to this.

[hamza]

About time for an update!

Uni and work commitments forced me to put the car on the side for over a year now. During that time i sourced parts, bought paint and worked on it as much as i could, which still wasn't enough to get it finished and registered.

The original idea was to repair the cv, respray and enjoy the car, but when i got a chance to get my hands on a clean 2 door CL, i didn't think twice.

So, with uni over and just a part time job to keep the cash flowing, the plan is:

-strip 4 door shell and inspect motor and driveline
I plan on ordering new water pump, alu crack pipe/termo housing and revamping the cooling system

-strip 2 door shell and prepare for new motor/running gear
-install wiring harness and fit new heater core.
-install engine
-Install leather seats


So with having started stripping the car, i already have some questions

Can the engine be removed with the AC stuff attached as its already charged?

Can the 4 door rear seats fit into the 2 door?

[HaydEn]

No on a/c

Yes on seats

[Water Boy]

What a story! Good luck!

[dubster99]

Seen both your ads on gumtree and was going to messege about the leather seats...not anymore hah! Where about in adelaide you at?

[hamza]

ah ye, im probably going to take them down, everyone keeps asking for parts ill need

near the airport.

[dubster99]

Yea couple of the guys on facebook posted it and got excited about another mk3 3dr! Im up north of the city.

[hamza]

Sweet, would love to tag along for a cruise some time.

[hamza]

So i finally got around to pulling the 1.8 lump out. Didn't have much trouble, accept was too lazy to properly disconnect the shift bar so when i lowered the engine, it sounded like i broke something important but it was only the heat shield.







now i'm left with a engine bay full of factory corrosion protection, grease and spaghetti.

So another question, will i need to replace the
-wiring in the engine bay
-brake booster

with the stuff from the vr?

cheers